1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed toward arrangements for mounting avionics equipment in an aircraft so that it may be positioned in various orientations to accommodate the usually crowded conditions in a cockpit and yet be easily mounted and easily removed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In present day aircraft, the housings for avionics equipment are generally box-shaped, but otherwise irregular and nonstandardized in shape and construction. Furthermore, the space available for the housings to be mounted is limited and often equally irregular and nonstandardized. Accordingly, to install new equipment in an aircraft at a position desired it has heretofore frequently been necessary to customize the housings for each individual application and, in some cases, even to redesign part of the cockpit as well. This results in excessive costs because of the amounts of both materials and time used as a result of even minor equipment modifications.
In general, techniques for mounting equipment within the cockpit of an aircraft are well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,150, granted to James B. Owen and Peter R. Wilkinson of Preston, England, shows an assembly for mounting equipment within an aircraft cockpit, which includes a locking pin arrangement with cams, to enable the mounting of the equipment and to allow movement between stowed and display positions thereof. However, the arrangement is very elaborate and allows no flexibility since it effectively predetermines how the equipment will be stowed and mounted without any other alternatives or options. The approach of Owen is accordingly unsuitable for mounting avionics equipment in any sort of flexible manner.